Attic Magic
by kelseysprite
Summary: Mara hasn't had her first kiss, and doesn't think any about it until Amber tells the whole school populous, leaving her devastated. When Fabian enters the picture though, will he prove helpful? Rewritten from Jara: First years. Rated K for Kids.


**This has been re-written from my previous fiction Jara: First Years because I realized that this was way too rushed and that, honestly, I could do a hell of a lot better. So here it is, proper and Fara. **

**Enjoy**

**~0o0o0o0~**

Mara sat in her room, pouring over her English homework. School had only started two weeks ago, and this kind of work was easy, even Amber knew that. Never the less, it was the only thing she could do to distract herself from the onslaught of chatter that Amber was practically spewing out of her mouth. Yes, Amber was talking about _boys_, a subject that Mara liked to avoid.

She focused herself on other things, naturally, and tonight it had been her English worksheet requiring six sentences that utilized prepositions. Instead of the six, she was able to provide fifty. Well, nearly fifty. There was one that still stumped her, and she couldn't seem to think of it at all.

Giving up, she gave out a little huff and let her mind wander. There was one thing she seemed to think about a lot lately. Love. Such a tiny word with such an enormous meaning. To her, it was over-used and cliché in multiple teenage novels. The subject taunted her though, love. Something that seemed impossible to figure out, or at least, something she couldn't figure out.

"Mara? Are you even listening to me? Earth to Mara!" Amber plopped down onto her bed and waved her hand in front of her face. The action snapped her out of her small trance and she looked at Amber tentatively. "Like I was saying," she stretched this, making sure that Mara didn't ignore her," I'm probably going to kiss him soon!" This caused Amber to squeal very loudly.

"Amber, we're first years, why are you fussing about this?"

"Oh Mara," Amber giggled," Only you would find boys _uninteresting_. And besides, _everyone _has to mingle with guys. Plus, I get to know who they are and match people up. I'm like a mini-cupid in the making," Mara was about to point out that if Amber were to be cupid it would imply that she were an imp-like creature, but was cut off when she gushed," And Mick. He's so dreamy and athletic and cute and, eek! He's just so… fit and yummy! I really, really, really just want to kiss him senseless."

Mara felt tense. The whole prospect of kissing someone seemed ridiculous and scary. What if she were a horrible kisser? What if a guy was repulsed by her kissing technique? What if she kissed like a llama? These thoughts produced one question though. One question she'd been dying to ask.

"How many boys have you kissed Amber?" Mara asked, sitting up straighter than she had before. Really, this was just a segue into her real question: What was kissing like?

"Um... Well there was Harry, Michael, Bryan, and of course, George, and soon, Mick." There was another shriek at this, but she calmed herself down and looked at Mara, expecting an answer. When none came, Amber rolled her eyes and asked," What about you Mara?"

"I've never actually kissed a guy before because… you know, I'm not the prettiest like you and guys don't generally like the geek."

"Aw Mara, I'm flattered. Seriously though, why haven't you? Not even on a dare?"

"Amber, you've got to keep this a secret, I don't want it getting out." Mara was somewhat desperate. Any news of this would alienate her further from the group and she would be known for never having kissed anyone in her life.

"But why haven't you had your first kiss?" From her tone, Mara could tell that Amber was dying to know, and this left Mara weighing whether she should actually tell her or not.

"I don't know. I mean, I don't really go out looking for guys to kiss," Mara saw the slight flicker of shock in Amber's eyes and quickly followed," no offence. I guess I'm just an introvert waiting for the right guy. Besides, I wanna focus on my studies. I don't exactly want to juggle a relationship with a guy and a relationship with Mr. Graham's homework." Amber laughed at this.

"Alright. I swear that I will never tell a single soul that you have never kissed anyone," the two clasped their pinkies together in a binding promise.

"Oh my gosh, I need to get to bed. I'll get dark circles!" Amber ran around, applying some last minute moisturizer to her face and tying her hair back, and quickly slipped into her bed. Before falling asleep though, she put on her sleeping mask in favor of, in her words,' hiding her eyes from the eye bag monster.'

As if on cue, Victor's voice rang out, loud, clear, and demanding. Mara bristled slightly at the sound of his voice. It had always unnerved her but she never dare say anything, scared that he would hear her. "It is ten o'clock. You have five minutes, and then I want to hear a pin drop..."

She huddled under the covers and felt a gnawing pain grow in her stomach. Mara Jaffray had never kissed a guy at the age of thirteen. And quite frankly, this was starting to annoy her.

**~0o0o0o0~**

The next night at dinner, something curious happened. Mara happened to be enveloped in a particularly interesting chapter of one of her favorite books (being ignored as usual) when Amber approached her. It wasn't as if she and Amber never talked, but most of the time it was when they were in their room alone. Maybe she had a reputation to uphold and hanging out with Mara would destroy it. Because of this, Mara knew something was definitely not right, and when she looked at Amber's face, she could see it in her eyes.

She was staring at her feet, not at Mara, when she finally stuttered, "Um... Mara?" Just by the tone of her voice, she was reassured that this was not good news.

"Yeah Amber?" Her throat was dry and raspy and she had trouble formulating a correct response. She should have asked what had happened immediately, but was too scared.

"Um... Well I did something that I shouldn't have, please don't hate me." There was the small voice again that was so not Amber.

"W-what did you do?" Mara asked, frightened witless. Amber sighed slightly and fiddled with the end of her braid.

"Um... Well I sort of told Mick about you not having your first kiss..." Amber cringed once the words were out. Mara simply sat in shock. First kiss. Amber had told Mick about her not having her first kiss. No. This was bad. No, this was horrible. Now everyone would know and there was nothing that she could do about it.

"What?" Mara whispered, head hung facing the floor. She calmed herself down and thought rationally. It was probably only Mick that knew. Mick was nice and he wouldn't spread anything with the intention to hurt her. Would he? She never paid him much mind except for the occasional glance (more of a series of frequent glances that were promptly followed by her blushing).

"Uh... Yeah and he must of spread it around the house because I got a text from Alfie telling me that you haven't had your first kiss yet..." First kiss. All over school. Not good, not good. Her brain went into over-drive as she thought of the repercussions.

"Oh my gosh Amber! This is a disaster." Mara said digging her head into her hands, so crestfallen. How could Amber have done this? Wasn't she her _friend_? It was betrayal in the lowest, and Mara wasn't even sure if she had any friends any more.

"I don't think it will be that bad, I mean it's just our house." Amber soothed rubbing Mara's back. Yeah right, Mara thought. Mick would be the hub of anything social at school. Anything that got to him would soon find its way into the willing ears of many other pupils.

"Amber, have you met Jerome Clarke? He's going to torment me!" She cried, slightly muffled by her hands. Right now, all she wanted was a pillow to scream into, or a really bad book to burn. Something, anything to get over this.

"There's no use in crying, Mara. Remember WWVBD, what would Victoria Beckham do." Amber seemed to be genuinely pleased with her logic.

"I don't really think Victoria Beckham has anything to do with this Amber, or will help at all, for that matter." Amber rolled her eyes then returned to trying to coax Mara up.

"She would stick it out, like you should." Amber said trying to pull her friend up. Mara would not budge though. It took a while before Mara begrudgingly agreed to go to dinner, at which point, she realized she would have to see the rest of the house.

"Fine, but I am probably going to be completely and utterly humiliated." She said sitting up. And right she was.

**~0o0o0o0~**

**«Dinner»**

Snickers erupted from Alfie and Jerome as Mara walked in. Mara, wanting to follow Amber's advice, walked over to her seat and sat down. Amber shot her a reassuring look from her spot, but Mara felt no help.

Even Patricia looked amused. That hurt. Sitting down, she felt their stares fall on her. Was she supposed to say something?

"Jerome would you please pass the peas." Mara asked, as she positioned herself as far away from him as possible. This wasn't exactly possible seeing as she was sitting next to him, but she tried.

"Oh Mara, always kissing up to everyone, aren't we?" Jerome laughed loudly, sarcasm dripping off of his word, passing the bowl. There were tears in her eyes, but she tried to ignore them for now.

"I'll bet she hasn't even touched a guy." Alfie muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. Sometimes she wondered how people could be so mean and yet never think of how much their words hurt. They were oblivious to the pain they were inflicting, and this had only been a few remarks.

"Does she even know what guys are? Ms. Jaffray, I would have thought you would have known your human anatomy by now. I would be delighted to give you a lesson," Jerome drawled. Loudly, not even caring that she sat next to him. Did he hate her? Really, was there a plausible reason for him to be doing this? She liked to assume the best in people but sometimes with Jerome she was so unsure what to think.

The insults kept on coming subtly, mocking her constantly. Then the tears came, dripping onto her food, and she realized that she couldn't staunch the flow of now ever present salty-tears. It was all too much, and so she picked herself up and ran from the table.

"It was totally your fault." Alfie pointed at Jerome laughingly, still not taking the whole ordeal seriously. Amber, now enraged, stood up, and walked over to both Jerome and Alfie, promptly slapping the both of them.

"What was that for?" They both cried, nearly at the same moment. Their faces were stinging, and they were both slightly surprised that a girl could hit that well.

"That was for making Mara cry. You don't get it do you? Her first kiss is important to her. Who are we to judge? Now you," she pointed at Jerome," go and apologize!"

"And what if I say no?" Jerome taunted whilst laughing at the red-faced blonde in front of him. Amber slapped the both of them again, making sure to make this one harder than the last.

"Why can't Fabian go?" Jerome asked after cradling his swollen cheek. He looked up from his food that he was awkwardly staring at questionably. Now all of their eyes were on Fabian as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat from the amount of eyes on him.

"Why?" Amber asked stubbornly, still trying to get Jerome to apologize. Jerome and Amber kept on butting heads until Jerome came up with a feasible argument.

"Because he and Mara can connect on an… intellectual level." That made sense. Amber also figured that if Jerome went he would just tease her some more. It would be best to send someone that wouldn't taunt her and that would actually try and be nice to her.

"Fabian," Amber pleaded with him," would you please go up and talk to Mara? Please please please _please?_" She batted her eyes and had her hands clasped in front of her, trying to use her assets to win him over, or at least to send him into awkward hyper-drive.

"A-alright." He choked out, standing up rather awkwardly. He started to shuffle towards the door, before Amber stopped him.

"Yay! Now go and comfort her. And as for you two," she slapped them again. If it were possible to slap them harder, then she did, for the two of them had to wait some minutes applying ice to their face before any of them could talk again.

"What was that one for?" Alfie asked, no, cried out. There were protests from both sides, both Alfie and Jerome complaining and whining to Amber about how she was being unfair.

"For fun." She shrugged, smile splayed across her face. The rest of them started eating once more, and so did Amber. All of them though subconsciously were wondering what had become of Mara and Fabian, and what of the whole drama.

**~0o0o0o0~**

Mara sat sniveling in the attic, praying that no one find her. It was bad enough that the rest of them had now seen her crying, but tomorrow there would be more of it. She looked out of the sunset window onto the grounds blanketed with the dark, sweet night and sighed.

Her head was starting to throb from all the crying she had done from up here. She leaned her head against the cool glass hoping that it would quench her inflamed head.

She guessed that it was around ten minutes from the whole dinner episode. Naturally, she was worried about Victor coming up and busting her, but with all that had happened, this was a great solitude. Nor Patricia, Joy, or Amber had come to check up on her. What if they didn't care about her?

There was a creak of the door, and she found herself squishing her eyes shut, hoping that Victor wouldn't see her. But of course he would, she wasn't exactly the best at hiding.

Instead, there stood Fabian. "Fabian?" She croaked, unsure of why he was up here. Fabian was a great friend though, and she knew that she could trust him, but sometimes it was just a struggle to get him to talk.

"Uh… hi Mara. I'm just here… No, uh, I'm… How are you?" Mara laughed silently at his mumbled response, somewhat happy that it was Fabian that had come to talk to her.

"I'm… I don't know how I am." Mara felt so dumb saying that. Fabian let out an 'mm' sound and looked out the window from afar, as if contemplating his next big move.

"Perhaps I can tell you?" He walked over to her, his stepping clipped and jittery and sat down next to her. They sat in silence for a few moments, obviously waiting for him to say something. He wasn't too keen on comforting people, as it always took him a while to formulate a proper response when it came down to it, and most of the time, the opportunity to help had come and gone.

"Why is kissing such a big deal anyway?" Fabian started after what seemed like an eternity.

"I know right. It's like, people don't get that you can do better things with your life then just spend it on kissing random people you won't even remember when you're an adult."

"I know… Mara, can I tell you something?" She nodded, and then looked out of the window. "I've never kissed someone either." This shocked Mara. Joy and Fabian had been known to have what seemed to be a relationship.

"But what about Joy?" Fabian seemed to tense up at this, and there was something that Mara could tell that was off.

"She likes Mick." That makes up the entire girl population, Mara thought. There was something in Fabian's eyes. Was it hurt? Pain? Loss of loyalty? Surely Fabian didn't rely on Joy to build up his self-esteem, did he?

"Your secret's safe with me, and I mean it." Mara placed her hand on his, staring into his eyes. There had been such a strong promise in that, unlike with Amber, and Mara knew that none of them would break that promise.

"So what now? Do we just go back downstairs? We might just manage to get the last of dessert." Mara's stomach grumbled seeing as she had barely touched her dinner. Dessert sounded amazing right now, especially if it were something chocolate and warm.

"Alright." With the help of his hand, she was pulled up. "Oh, and Fabian?" The two were close now. It was a comfortable closeness for her. He placed his lips on hers and scurried away leaving Mara struck with confusion, but mostly elation.

When it was finally time for the whole of Anubis to go to sleep, Mara slept peacefully and comfortably, still relishing the events that had happened prior that evening.

The gnawing pain in her stomach left, ceasing to exist anymore, and was nothing more than a distant memory. She, Mara, had been kissed at the tender age of thirteen, and it had been with someone she cared about.

And as for Fabian? The feeling was mutual.

**~0o0o0o0~**

**Yay for re-written-ness! Okay, I'm pretty sure that I have the flu and that if I don't go to sleep that I am going to die**

**(Have you seen the covers yet? Huh? Huh? It's okay, me neither)**

**~kels**


End file.
